Zach Cregger Recalls ‘Resident Evil’ Actor Austin Abrams Nearly Died On-Set During A Stunt: “Crazy How Close He Came To Death” [Comic-Con]

This September, Zach Cregger hits pause on his original feature work to tackle the latest “Resident Evil” movie reboot for Sony Pictures, and while the filmmaker has been adamant he’s making a horror film first and foremost, there are still plenty of action beats and stunts. One in particular nearly saw the film’s star Austin Abrams (“Weapons,” “Euphoria”) crushed to death by a massive body bag filled with blood that was being dropped by cranes in a sequence you can see in the trailers, and Cregger spoke about the near-death experience this week at San Diego Comic-Con as the pic’s promotional tour has kicked off.

“It’s in the trailer momentarily, but [Abrams is] running down the street, and there’s zombies on the roof of the buildings on either side, and they’re all leaping at him,” Cregger explained during SDCC (via SlashFilm/Associated Press). “And so, we had to basically design this thing where he’s just running, and bodies are just falling and detonating all around him. And I knew I didn’t want to do it with VFX because I feel like it would just look like VFX. So, I was like, ‘How do we do this where all these explosions are real?'”

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That scene in question had ultimately called for heavily rehearsing precise choreography while Abrams (as Bryan, an average Joe medical courier) navigated an obstacle course, of sorts, on set with them having 150-lb “body-sized blood bags” falling from cranes around him to do in-camera practical effects, one of which came dangerously close to hitting the actor when it was “triggered early,” and could have caused some serious harm, or ended his little life. Cregger stated in retrospect after everyone was able to walk away unharmed, “It was crazy how close he came to death, but, hey, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.” Thankfully, nobody got seriously injured.

Fielding some other questions (via Entertainment Weekly/IGN), Cregger has been getting minor criticism from die-hard “Resident Evil” fans online about not doing a direct game adaptation and his choice for it to take place in modern times rather than the 1990s; he explained his reasoning for wanting to do things his own way.

“This movie doesn’t take place in the ’90s when ‘Resident Evil 2’ came out,” Cregger said. “It takes place in the snow in 2026. That’s why [Austin Abrams’ character] has an iPhone. Because I took liberties to tell a story I wanted to tell and make the movie look the way I wanted to make it look…I am not doing exactly a one-for-one ‘Resident Evil 2’ adaptation. There are differences between this movie and the game. So I just want to acknowledge that. I don’t think it makes the movie any worse. I think it looks really f***ing cool to have a horror movie set in the snow. I don’t see enough of those. I like it a lot…If the barrier of entry is whether I do a one-for-one port, then I guess in that regard, I have failed. But I think the movie is stronger for it.”

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“Resident Evil” will be unleashed in theaters on September 18, and we’ll be very curious to see what happens next with the franchise if the Cregger standalone pic (references Raccoon City, mind you) is a box office hit and they won’t more “RE” stories from him. In the meantime, the director has two upcoming projects he’s helming for New Line Cinema/Warner Bros., including a “Weapons” prequel film called “Gladys,” and his deep-space sci-fi film “The Flood,” which has Amblin producing.

Resident Evil director Zach Cregger passionately explains about why he doesn't want to do a direct adaptation of the games.

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— IGN (@IGN) July 25, 2026